Slayers: FIGHT
by Nezuban
Summary: When Lina and Gourry hear of their homeland at war, they figure the Mazoku are back at work. Little do they know of the true horror of their adversary. The first of what could be many chapters.
1. News! Depart for Home!

A/N: I do not own any part of The Slayers TV series except for those elements that I have created. The rest belong to those who created them.   
  
**This story takes place two years following the events in Slayers TRY**  
  
Slayers FIGHT  
  
By Nezuban  
  
---  
  
  
The sun hung high overhead, its light washing the land in its warmth and beauty. The land seemed to sparkle; the lakes appeared clear and cool, the trees blew in the soft breeze, even the people seemed brightened by the remarkably clear day.  
  
The city of Tadaar, one of the cities located in the Outer World, was alive in its daily routine. Everywhere across the city the people were in a cheery mood, going about their business with smiles on their faces. That is, except for the people inside the small tavern located in the center of the city.  
  
Only two people seemed alive in that tavern. One of them was a maybe-slightly-younger-than-twenty red-haired young woman, and the other was a long haired blond swordsman. The two of them shared a table that was quickly growing cluttered with empty plates and bowls as they ate with tremendous fervor and seemingly bottomless stomachs.  
  
The other patrons in the tavern barely touched what food was on their plates, looking disgusted and some of them even amazed at the display in front of them. A few of them even left the tavern having eaten nothing and with a sudden loss of appetite. Even when the pair sat back from their mess, the patrons could not get back to their meals.  
  
Lina Inverse, the Sorceress Supreme, plucked a toothpick from nearby and began picking the leftover food from between her teeth. Her friend, Gourry Gabriev, the Swordsman of Light, pats his belly with a satisfied grunt.  
  
"Ahh..." Lina says with a smile. "Now THAT was a good meal!" Gourry only nodded in agreement, a smile splitting his face. "Waiter!" Lina called, raising an arm. "Bring us the check please!"  
  
A collective sigh of relief escaped the patrons inside the tavern when the pair walked out of the tavern; it was a sigh loud enough that both Lina and Gourry heard it through the walls.   
  
"You don't suppose we made too big a scene in there," Lina asked, looking up at Gourry, "do you?"  
  
"I hope not," replied Gourry. They both glanced back at the tavern, which suddenly seemed to cheer in celebration. The two of them shrugged, and moved on.   
  
Tadaar was a modest city, with stone streets winding this way and that, and gray stone buildings of various size lining each street. Some alleys between buildings in the housing areas had lines going between them, and each line held a number of different styles of clothes hanging out to dry. Lina and Gourry continued to walk down one of the main streets, not going anywhere in particular, and soon found themselves in the marketplace.  
  
The market was bustling, with people bargaining for better prices on a number of items, from food to clothing to jewelry, even weapons. Any given stand had about ten people standing around it, with the merchants quickly becoming frustrated at how cheap people really were.   
  
Lina and Gourry walked through the market eying each stand curiously, not looking for anything in particular. They walked past a stand that sold magical artifacts. Lina stopped and began looking at what the merchant had to sell. When she looked up, she noticed that Gourry was gone.  
  
"Huh? Where'd he go?" She looked around the area, but could not see any trace of the blond-haired swordsman. Scratching her head, she said, "Damn! I swear, I need to put that jelly-head on a leash!" She left the stand and began to look for her companion. She looked around for nearly ten minutes before becoming truly angry. She decided to look for five more minutes before levitating to find him from the air. Suddenly, she felt a hand clamp down on her shoulder. She turned, ready to punch the person who touched her, but stopped when she saw Gourry.  
  
"There you are!" he exclaimed, wearing a face of annoyance. "I've been looking all over for you. Where did you go? You really shouldn't leave my side in such a big city. I was getting worried about..." he continued to blather on, and only stopped when Lina's right hook had left a large purple bruise on his cheek.  
  
"Shut up! You were the one who got lost! I stopped to look at something, and you kept going! I need to keep you on a leash, for cryin' out loud!" She continued her verbal abuse on Gourry for a short time longer. When she stopped, a crowd had gathered around the two, each person staring wide-eyed with very large sweat drops hanging from their heads. Lina looked around the crowd, and said, "Looks like I got a little carried away." She chuckled nervously.  
  
"No kidding," Gourry said. He appeared angry, and looked at her as if it were all her fault again.  
  
Lina sighed. It was pointless trying to talk some sense into Gourry. A jelly-head would always be a jelly-head.  
  
She and Gourry began again to walk through the market, walking through the wide path the other people were making for them as they went by. Before long, they had reached the center of the marketplace, where a tall stone block stood with pieces of paper tacked to it.   
  
Lina and Gourry both began to read the various signs on the message board. Most of the messages were common notices: people selling something, people hiring for jobs, things found on basically every message board. Except for one rather large one, with bold letters across the top.  
  
The sign read: CAPABLE FIGHTERS AND MAGES NEEDED--BIG REWARD OFFERED. INQUIRE AT CITY HALL.  
  
"I wonder what this is about," Gourry said after reading it.   
  
"Yeah, me too," replied Lina. At the moment, a middle-aged bearded man was walking by and overheard the two.  
  
"You two haven't heard?" he asked in a throaty voice. When Lina and Gourry shook their heads, he went on. "Well, news has leaked out from the lands to the north that some evil force is attacking cities and kingdoms. Several large cities have been destroyed, and many of the kingdoms are at war with each other, each blaming the others for the attacks. It's total chaos. So the kings here have decided to recruit as many fighters and mages as they can get to help defend us from this evil. You two had best find someplace to bunker down for a while. Good luck to you." With that, he walked on.  
  
Lina was frowning, as was Gourry. An evil force? Kingdoms at war? Lina could only think of one word that could describe the instigators of the wars.  
  
Mazoku.  
  
Gourry now wore an expression of concern. He folded his arms across his chest and leaned back against the message board. Lina stared at him for a moment before speaking.  
  
"Dare I ask? What are you doing, Gourry? Are you actually THINKING?"  
  
He opened one eye and looked at her.   
  
"It seems to me that the Mazoku are back at work. And they're probably seeking some sort of revenge for the deaths of Gaav and Phibrizzo." There was a pause, in which he stood up and rolled his eyes. "Again."  
  
Lina just stared at Gourry, her expression total surprise. He had actually said something that most people wouldn't think of.  
  
"I was just about to say the same thing. HOW COULD A JELLYFISH-BRAIN LIKE YOU FIGURE THAT OUT?!" Gourry only shrugged.  
  
"It just seemed like the sort of plot line we've come to expect." Lina fell to the ground. Hard. When she stood up, she looked concerned.  
  
"Anyway, we can't just ignore this. Even I'm so tired of these Mazoku stirring up so much trouble that I'm feeling a little righteous. Gourry! Tomorrow, we leave for home!"  



	2. Warrior! Following the Trail!

A/N: Again, I do not own any Slayers elements other than those that I created.  
  
  
Slayers FIGHT  
  
By Nezuban  
  
---  
  
  
Four days had passed since Lina and Gourry had arrived back in the area that had once been inside the Mazoku's magical barrier, and almost three months since they had first learned of the terrible goings on in their homeland.  
  
And in the last four days, the two of them had seen more ruined cities than any one person should see in a thousand lifetimes.   
  
The two of them continued to walk along a road going through one of the many forests that grew in their homeland. The trees, at least, seemed peaceful.  
  
Lina thought back to when they had reached their first ruined city, upon returning to their homeland. The city was not very large, but rested very close to the Mazoku's barrier. The city had once had a major magical presence there, with a rather large magic school. When Lina and Gourry had walked into the city, there was not a single structure left standing. Every wall of every building in the city was fallen or broken. In addition, there was the very acrid stink of dead bodies, a smell that forced Lina to enclose herself and Gourry in a magical sphere and hover over the city. When they were over the location of the old magic school, Lina brought them in for a closer look. The old magic school appeared to have been plundered, as if the destroyers of the city were looking for something inside, rather than just leveling the building.  
  
"One thing is for sure, though," Lina thought as she walked along the path. "The Mazoku are definitely up to something."  
  
Gourry led the way along the path, Lina following in deep thought. Gourry's battle senses were on full alert, and had been since they had arrived in the homeland. He could sense that something very evil was in the air, but he could not figure out what. Prepared for battle as he always was, he had long since loosened his sword in its scabbard.  
  
Up ahead, the two of them suddenly heard the sounds of battle. Steel could be heard crashing against steel, and magical explosions echoed in the summer air. Lina, hoping to find some answers, took off instantly.  
  
"Ray Wing," she shouted, and she flew ahead, Gourry following, running as fast as his legs could carry him. The trees were a blur as she flew past them, but she did not notice them. The only thing she could think of was finding some answers about what was going on.   
  
When she arrived at the scene of the battle, more questions were raised than were answered.  
  
In a rather large clearing in the forest lay about twenty or thirty trolls, some humans, berserkers, goblins, and even a few lesser demons--and all of them dead. In the center of the dead monsters was a young, dark-haired man in a tattered brown cloak, barely older than herself, facing yet another fifty or so lesser demons and creatures of the like. In his hand was a glowing blade of pure blue-white energy. And with it, she saw him slay five demons in what appeared to be one stroke.  
  
"Sword of Light?!" she exclaimed. She landed on the ground and watched as the young, dark-haired man fought against the creatures. Gourry arrived moments later and watched in grim amazement.  
  
It was clear, though, that the young man was growing tired, and would soon fall to the demons.   
  
Realizing the young man's predicament, both Lina and Gourry charged ahead.  
  
"FIREBALL!" Lina shouted, a large sphere of magic fire spouting from her gloved hand. The fireball impacted against the chest of one lesser demon, sending the beast into the dust.  
  
"Hannas Vale!" Gourry shouted, and the blade of his new sword began to glow with the magical enhancements infused upon it by Lina's sorcery. He charged and began a flurry of much-practiced movements that caught the demons by total surprise. One demon fell, followed by another, and yet another. And they all fell in the span of a few seconds.   
  
The demons make pause upon seeing their young enemy's new allies, and quickly retreat. As they fell back, Lina began chanting a spell that would ensure that these minions of whatever Mazoku was operating here would never again terrorize these people.  
  
"Darkness beyond twilight, crimson beyond blood that flows..." energy began to build around her, surrounding her in a malevolent aura of magic. "Buried in the flow of time is where your power grows..." the spell continues, the aura growing larger. By this time, Gourry had produced a pair of sunglasses and had placed them over his eyes. The young swordsman the pair had encountered wore a grim expression, as if knowing exactly what spell Lina was casting. "I pledge myself to conquer all the foes who stand before the gift bestowed in my unworthy hand..." Lina's power was rapidly expanding, the building of energy becoming more and more violent as the words flowed from her mouth. "Let the fools who stand before me be destroyed by the power you and I possess..." Lina thrust out her hands, the energy finally released in a terrible wave of black magical power that seared towards the fleeing demons.  
  
"DRAGON SLAVE!!!" In a bright flash of malevolent power, the retreating demons were instantly vaporized, there remains being only the memories engraved on Lina's, Gourry's, and the mysterious youth's minds.   
  
When the smoke cleared, Lina looked ahead and discovered that a rather sizeable chunk of the once peaceful forest was gone. But there were no more demons. She defended herself by saying her typical line when overkill was the only result of her power.  
  
"You can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs." Gourry only groaned.  
  
Behind them the young man fell to his knees, weariness taking control of his mind and body. It was then that Lina finally got a good look at the young man. He was really only about twenty or so with short dark hair and maroon eyes. He was tall, only a hand shorter than Gourry. In his hands still glowed the magnificent energy blade, but Lina and Gourry both were surprised when they saw that there was no sword hilt. The sword he used was made of pure magical energy. Even Lina didn't possess a power that could be used like a regular sword for more than a single attack.  
  
The young man breathed heavily, blood running down one side of his face as well as a freshly opened wound in his side.   
  
Lina raced towards him and took hold of his shoulder. The young man looked at Lina with a blank face.  
  
"Recovery!" Lina shouted, white magic pouring from her spirit into the young man's life force. Immediately the young man's expression changed. He smiled as his energy began to restore itself.  
  
"Thank you, miss," he said politely. His voice was almost deep without being gruff. She looked at him with the same look she would give to a member of high nobility. Of course, that was the look she gave everyone else--the 'I'm still better than you' look.  
  
"You were pretty good with that sword of yours against all these beasts," Gourry said, motioning at the number of dead creatures around them.   
  
"Yeah," said Lina. "So just who are you, anyway?"  
  
The young man looked at Lina. "I am called Gasethiran, king of Forau, the small kingdom adjacent to Seyruun."  
  
"What?!" Lina and Gourry both exclaimed.  
  
"YOU? You're a KING? But you're so YOUNG!" Lina could not believe that such a young man was actually the reigning king of any kingdom.   
  
"Yes. I am." He paused, looking at her. Or rather, as Lina felt it, looking INTO her. "So you are on your way to Seyruun." It was not a question.  
  
"H-How did you know that?" Lina asked, confused.   
  
"Psionics, young lady. That sword you saw is only one portion of my mastery: the psiblade." Lina frowned. The art of psionics had been thought lost since before the War of the Monsters Fall. It was a terrifying art if used by the wrong hands, and had been thought sealed by the forces of the both the Gods and the Mazoku. "And anyway, you waste your time traveling to Seyruun. It has been completely destroyed, and the royal family murdered."  
  
"WHAT?!" Lina and Gourry both exclaimed again. If the royal family was murdered, then...that meant...  
  
Lina was overcome with a sense of urgency and rage.  
  
"AMELIA!!!" she shouted.  



End file.
